The Terribly Dull Way to Find Your Next Billion Dollar Startup Idea

The best entrepreneurs have a very specific process, and it’s not nearly as exciting as you’d hope.

Aaron Dinin, PhD

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Image courtesy Yan Krukau via Pexels

How do entrepreneurs find billion dollar ideas? If pop culture gives us any clue, the process involves a group of dudes sitting around a living room, possibly smoking weed, and blurting out ideas until one of those ideas seems brilliant enough to excite everyone.

But that’s not actually how entrepreneurs find their most successful startup ideas. The process isn’t nearly as interesting or quick. Instead, a better way to understand how successful entrepreneurs find their startup ideas is to read this article sharing the recent news that the United States Air Force signed its first ever contract to hire third-party, commercial aerial refueling tankers.

Yes, I’m suggesting you read an article about aerial refueling. It’s basically about creating flying gas stations. You may have seen them in movies — they’re the big planes with long tubes sticking out for fighter jets to hook into and get more gas while they’re flying.

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Aaron Dinin, PhD
Aaron Dinin, PhD

Written by Aaron Dinin, PhD

I teach entrepreneurship at Duke. Software Engineer. PhD in English. I write about the mistakes entrepreneurs make since I’ve made plenty. More @ aarondinin.com

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